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THE NEGRO’S NEXT STEP 

BY 

SUTTON E. l GRIGGS 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Preface . 2 

Introduction . 3 

As To Methods of Procedure.*. 4 

As To A Future For The American Negro. 26 

As To Amending The System of Education . 32 

As To Readjustment In Politics . 36 


Issued By 

THE NATIONAL PUBLIC WELFARE LEAGUE 

569 E. Georgia Avenue, 

Memphis, Tenn. 


Copyright 1923 
By SUTTON E. GRIGGS 









PREFACE. 


,G £3 


Prof. Kelly Miller of Howard University and Dr. W. 
E. B. DuBois, of The National Association for the Ad¬ 
vancement of Colored People, long have been regarded 
as outstanding characters in the Negro race. The Asso¬ 
ciation which Dr. DuBois leads recently sent out to 
Negroes of prominence a query as to the next step that 
should be taken by the race in the United States. Prof. 
Kelly Miller lias made a strong plea for a conference of all 
the leaders of the race for the purpose of outlining a 
satisfactory policy. If these two very able men are of 
the opinion that the hour has come for the searching and 
trying of the ways of the past, and, if they truly mirror 
the advanced thought of their group, then truly is the 
hour here for us to ponder the path we are to tread. 

Only the other day, in going through matter that had 
been accumulating for years, we found an unpublished 
manuscript of ours, written some twenty years ago, bear 
ing the proud title 44 The Pace Problem Solved.’’ The 
passing years have robbed us of all that conceit. If, as 
it is hoped, they have brought an increased measure of 
wisdom, this increase has caused us to feel far less wise. 
And now, instead of aspiring to offer a solution to the 
great American puzzle, instead of feeling equal to the 
task of indicating the whole tortuous journey that lies 
ahead, we shall be happy, very, very happy indeed, if 
only we succeed in indicating with clearness The Negro’s 
Next Step. 

Yours sincerely, 

^3—SUTTON E. GRIGGS. 




I 


OCT -p 


■1323 ©C1A759289 










- Introduction. 

December 20th, 1916, is a significant day in human 
history. That is the date of the withdrawal of the 
British and other allied forces from the Gallipoli penin¬ 
sula. An attempt had been made to capture this penin¬ 
sula from the Turks and to proceed to their capital, Con¬ 
stantinople, by this route. In the effort to do this, the 
British alone had lost one thousand six hundred and nine 
officers and twenty-three thousand six hundred and sev¬ 
enty privates, and the battleships Irresistable, Ocean, 
Bouvet, Majestic and Triumph were at the bottom of 
the sea as a part of the cost of the effort. But in spite 
of all her expenditures of every kind, England, proud 
England, mistress of the seas, mother of nations, and fos¬ 
ter mother of provinces occupied by millions of aliens, 
ordered her troops to set sail in total abandonment of 
the project. The outstanding lesson of this incident is 
that there are certain ways in which things can be done 
and certain other ways in which they cannot. The 
English and their allies finally marched into Constanti¬ 
nople and took full charge of the city, but it all had to 
happen in a way far different to what had been planned. 

Members of the Negro race have been very zealous 
workers along certain lines having in mind the attain¬ 
ment of certain goals. It is not the mission of this docu¬ 
ment to take up the question of goals, of ideals, but to 
point out the difficulties in the way of certain methods, 
and the measure of hope offered by others. Since the 
conquerors in the greatest war ever fought on the soil 
of earth did not hesitate to search and try their ways, 
did not fail to abandon a plan which they saw was both 
costly and fruitless, the Negroes of the United States 
can well afford to re-examine their methods with a view 
to taking whatever steps the facts developed demand. 
Thus free of mind, free to take whatever path is the path 
of wisdom, whether or not it be an old path, we now be¬ 
gin our task of indicating the Negro’s next step. 





4 


AS TO METHODS OF PROCEDURE. 

English and American governmental practice is built 
upon the theory of local self-government. The town, the 
city, the county and the state, in the main, are allowed to 
run their own affairs respectively within certain limita¬ 
tions, it being demanded that each self-governing unit 
shall refrain from whatever would imperil the welfare of 
the whole governmental structure. This practice is so 
wide-spread in England, Canada, Australia, New Zea¬ 
land, the Union of South Africa and the United States 
that it may be termed a fixed characteristic of the Eng¬ 
lish speaking race, the method in which the fundamental 
political tendency of that race manifests itself. 

It is true that in recent years there has been a ten¬ 
dency on the part of the Federal Government to take 
over matters previously left to the care of the several 
states, but whenever this has happened it has been done i 
in response to a demand coming from an overwhelming 
majority of the states and general throughout the coun¬ 
try. 

Only in case of grave emergencies is this practice sus¬ 
pended, and when there is a suspension there is an irre¬ 
sistible movement back to the practice when the emer¬ 
gency that caused it has disappeared. The coming of 
freedom and other constitutional rights to the Negroes 
of the United States was under the suspension of the gen¬ 
eral rule. It was through the Federal government, and 
not the local governments that the Negroes were ele¬ 
vated from slavery to the dignity of citizenship. Thus 
it has been their tendency to look to the national gov¬ 
ernment rather than to the states for the adjustment of 
such ills as arise. But little thought and effort have 
been directed toward the states of the South as a hopeful 
source from which highly beneficial things might come. 

This state of affairs puts the Negro race in the United 
States at cross purposes with the fundamental political 
trend of the nation, and it is this fact that seriously hin- 



ff 


ders and delays adjustments wlien all other conditions 
are ripe for them. It is the theory of our government 
that the main blessings of life due at the hands of the 
government, should come to the citizen from the state in 
which he resides, with the national government directly 
touching his life in a very small way. Our dual form of 
government is so fashioned that the protection of life 
and property, education, taxation and matters of gen¬ 
eral social betterment are in the hands of the state, while 
transportation of mail and the waging of war are about 
the only points of contact between the average citizen 
and the national government. Under these circum¬ 
stances it is very apparent that any group that fails to 
give serious attention to the matter of local adjustments 
labors under a terrible disadvantage. 

It is a matter of common knowledge that in times past 
only one of the major political parties in the United 
States has enjoyed the confidence and held the affec¬ 
tions of the Negroes as a whole. This party has had a 
two-fold duty thrust upon it. Political necessity has de¬ 
manded that the party hold out a measure of hope in 
order that elections might be won. After elections have 
been won every administration of that party since the 
days of General Grant, with one exception, has sought to 
let the Negroes know that, for the future, they were to 
seek results through their respective states. President 
Hayes withdrew Federal troops from the South, leaving 
matters for the several states to regulate. Wien a dele¬ 
gation of Negroes appealed to President Garfield, he 
advised them point blank to return home and make 
friends with their white neighbors. President Harrison 
urged the country to a policy that meant Federal inter¬ 
vention. The bill which he favored (the Lodge Election 
Bill) was defeated. Congress was turned over to the 
opposition party by the people, and the president himself 
was defeated when he stood for re-election. President 
McKinley stood firmly against any policy of outside in¬ 
terference with what was going on in the states. Presi- 






6 


dent Roosevelt started out ignoring local sentiment, but 
later asserted that the only practical solution was the 
winning of the sentiment which he had sought to defy. 
President Taft openly stated at the outset of his admin¬ 
istration that he was not going to appoint Negroes to 
office where it was obnoxious to local sentiment. When 
Honorable Charles E. Hughes was a candidate for the 
governorship of New York, he said to an audience of 
colored people in that state: “I stand for equality be¬ 
fore the law; I stand ever against unjust discrimination 
against any man on account of his color or on account 
of his race or on account of anything. ’ ’ Ten years later, 
when a candidate for the presidency of the United States, 
although urged, he failed to make any declaration as to 
national policy concerning racial issues. Why did he 
make such strong declaration as a candidate for the gov¬ 
ernorship, and none when a candidate for the presi¬ 
dency! In all likelihood because he realized fully that 
the public sentiment of the nation definitely had rele¬ 
gated the main issues to the states for adjustment. 

The credential committee of the National Republican 
Convention, in session in Chicago in 1920, had before it 
a contest between two Memphis men, a Negro and a 
white man, for the position of delegate. The Negro had 
succeeded in lining up in his favor the members of his 
race in Memphis and throughout the country. He had 
won before the committee making up the temporary roll, 
and had the ardent support of the chairman of the na¬ 
tional committee. When his case was reached before 
the credential committee a white woman from the home 
state of the two contestants arose and made a speech 
of about one or two sentences against the Negro con¬ 
testant, and he was quickly defeated. 

A Negro from Georgia succeeded in rallying his people 
to his standard. He became national committeeman 
from his state. He won the favor of the president of 
the United States. He was nominated for a position of 
great distinction and won the support of the committee 


7 


that had to pass on his case. When the time for voting 
came a United States Senator from his state made a 
speech opposing him and he was defeated. 

Mr. Walter S. Cohen, some years ago, was nominated 
for the position of Collector of the Port of New Orleans, 
La., was confirmed by the United States Senate, and 
served very acceptably. A change of administration 
caused his retirement from office. President Harding 
nominated him for the same office, but the Senate re¬ 
jected the nomination because the official spokesman of 
the people directly involved stated that Mr. Cohen was 
objectionable to them. This latter nomination was swept 
away by the new policy of local adjustment moving at 
full tide. The Richmond Planet, one of the ablest 
of Negro newspapers, correctly gauges the situation 
when it says: 

“The rejection by the United States Senate of Walter 
S. Cohen, who had been nominated for the position of 
Collector of the Port of New Orleans, is peculiarly sig¬ 
nificant at this time, emphasizing as it does the fact that 
no citizen of color, no matter how well qualified he may 
be can be confirmed as a presidential appointee, unless 
Democratic senators from which State he may hail shall 
agree to such an appointment.” 

In rejecting the nominations of Messrs. Johnson and 
Cohen the United States Senate was not necessarily re¬ 
cording the personal views of its members, but certainly 
was acting in line with the national policy of local ad¬ 
justment. 

The National Republican Executive Committee has 
established a regulation to the effect that all who partici¬ 
pate in the councils of the Republican party must be 
qualified to vote according to the regulations of the state 
in which they live. In other words, unless the people 
who are in control in a state make it possible for a Negro 
to vote in that state he cannot take a part in shaping the 
affairs of the Republican party. This is putting the 
Negro absolutely at the mercy of local public sentiment; 


8 


there is no other view of the matter possible. 

President Harding is noted for his kindliness of spirit, 
and long before his elevation to the presidency of the 
nation had the reputation of being fair toward the Negro 
race. Since his elevation to the presidency he has made 
official recommendations in the interest of the Negro 
race, favored the passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynching 
Bill, has nominated Negroes for public office, but in 
every case where the dominant element of the people that 
would be most directly affected by the things proposed 
have strenuously objected, the rest of the American 
people have not put in force the president’s wishes in 
spite of their protests. Even the president of the nation 
has not been able to overide the fixed policy of his- 
countrymen. When he said to a Negro graduating class, 
“The solving of your race problem is up to you and the 
members of your race, ’ ’ he was not merely voicing an in¬ 
dividual opinion, but was pointing with an unerring 
hand to the road that the nation has called upon the 
Negro race to travel, that it insists that it shall travel 
whether it be long or short, whether it be bathed in light 
or wrapped in darkness, whether it be smooth or rough. 

The Dyer anti-lynching bill furnishes a complete test 
as to which policy is dominant in the nation, federal in¬ 
tervention or local adjustment. The Negroes of the 
country were behind this bill as they had never been 
before with regard to any measure. The Chicago De¬ 
fender states the case thus: 

“Despite the most concerted fight ever made by the 
raee through its press, church and organizations, the 
Dyer bill is cast into the discard. Months of lobbying 
by the National Association for the Advancement of Col¬ 
ored People, the National Equal Bights League, appeals 
and demands on the part of political clubs throughout 
the country, decisive political action against opponents 
of the Dyer bill up for re-election, were all to no avail.” 

The white people of the South did not interpret the 
failure of Congress to pass the Dyer bill as approving 


9 


lynching. They construed it as a triumph of the policy 
of local adjustment. That such was their view, is indi¬ 
cated by the following resolutions adopted by a body of 
representative white women of the South: 

“Whereas, the defeat of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, 
which provided for the federal control of lynching, has 
thrown the whole responsibility back upon each state for 
removing this hideous crime; therefore 

“Be it Resolved , That we, the commission on race rela¬ 
tions of the Woman’s Missionary Council, Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, the conference social service 
superintendents and ofher officers in conference in At¬ 
lanta, Ga., Dec. 4-6, 1922, do now demand of the authori¬ 
ties of the several states that they make good their claim 
proving their competency to abolish mob violence and 
lynching. 

4 i That we assume our responsibility as citizens for the 
protection of human life and hereby call upon all the 
people of all the states, upon the pulpit and upon the 
press to join in an insistent and persistent agitation 
against this barbarous practice. 

“That we formulate plans for an organized movement 
in behalf of adequate state laws and law enforcement” 

The Supreme Court of the United States has fortified 
the policy of local adjustment by its decision in the case 
of the separate car law. It decided that a state has the 
full right to separate passengers according to race. This 
decision renders Congress unable to pass any law what¬ 
ever that will have a bearing upon travel within a state. 
That part of travel that lies between the states comes 
within the jurisdiction of Congress, but it has refused to 
pass any legislation concerning the matter that is in con¬ 
flict with state laws bearing on the question. Thus Con¬ 
gress, by a policy of non-action supports the decision of 
the Supreme Court in keeping with the policy of local 
adjustment. 

After the close of the Civil War, the emancipation of 
the Negroes and the collapse of the plans of the nation to 


10 


establish the privileges of the Negroes upon a firm basis, 
two sets of opinions struggled for the mastery of na¬ 
tional sentiment. General Grant urged that more 
strenuous steps be taken. This course was not adopted. 
Southern white men appealed to the North to allow the 
liberal, progressive white people of the South to take 
the lead in pointing out the best methods to take. Henry 
W. Grady of Georgia said to a Boston audience: “I had 
rather see my people render back this question rightly 
solved than to see them gather all the spoils over which 
faction has contended since Cataline conspired and 
Caesar fought.” 

Just as certainly as the gold standard triumphed over 
the proposition for the free and unlimited coinage of 
silver, and as the policy of a protective tariff won out 
over the policy of a tariff for revenue only, so the policy 
of local adjustment of the race question won out over 
the policy of Federal intervention. 

We approach the subject from other angles. In a very 
large measure the world has entered an era of self-de¬ 
termination, and any large and progressive group of 
people occupying territory that will permit the drawing 
of a line separating it from that of others, can, if it so 
chooses, insist upon being recognized as a distinct peo¬ 
ple, and the enlightened sentiment of mankind will sus¬ 
tain the contention. Canada and Australia can with¬ 
draw from England at any time they see fit, and not a 
shot would be fired to prevent it. Statesmen keep this 
thought of the age in mind and for that reason coercive 
measures will be applied to great groups, very, very 
sparingly. 

They not only consider theories of government but also 
the results likely to follow the adoption of a given course. 
Premier Lloyd George very aptly states the Anglo Saxon 
way of looking at things when, in discussing the Irish 
situation, he says: “There is no political principle, 
however clear, that can be applied without regard to 


11 


physical and historical facts.” 

What was it that caused the loose form of government 
of the original colonies known as the Articles of Con¬ 
federation, to be discarded for the more compact nation 
that we now have? That this country might face its 
foreign problems unitedly. What was the underlying 
cause of the “Civil War,” Slavery? No, it was the 
grim determination of the American people to hold all 
the people in a union that would enable them to face the 
outer world unitedly. And just as certainly as tomorrow 
morning will bring a rising sun, just so certain it is that 
the American people are not going to pursue any policy 
knowingly that has in it the appearance of enough dyna¬ 
mite to cause any large group of the people to desire 
ardently to be separated from the country. Therefore, 
all legislation seen to touch the question of race adjust¬ 
ment is going to be watched with a view to its disrupting 
capacity, its tendency toward the alienation of the affec¬ 
tions of the white South. 

But there may be that class that will meet all that is 
here said by a backward glance at what was done in the 
past. Those who turn their eyes toward the things done 
for the Negro by the Federal Government when the fe¬ 
ver of war was in the blood of the North, and expect 
similar results today, should bear in mind that that fever 
has gone, has wholly disappeared, and that other wars 
have come in which former foes and children of former 
foes have mingled their blood together in behalf of their 
common country, and as a result nothing whatever may 
be expected that has for its dependence the sort of feel¬ 
ing that existed just after the civil war. 

The New York Tribune is as orthodox a Republican 
newspaper as there is in the nation. It says: 

“The ancient suspicion and criticism are dying out, 
and if the North has doubts about any steps the South 
is taking to solve its peculiar problem, it is slower than 
its wont to condemn, quicker to admit the difficulty that 
besets the South, less ready to present offhand solutions 


12 


and more disposed to give full faith and credit to the 
honesty of Southern convictions regarding the necessity 
of what the South is doing.’’ 

The following from Mr. Merriam’s book, “The Negro 
arid the Nation,” sets forth the views that the North in 
very large measure came to hold: “The South has a 
burden to carry which the North does not easily realize. 
There the Negro is not a remote problem of philan¬ 
thropy ; he is not represented by a few stray individuals; 
it is a great mass, everywhere present, in its surface 
manifestations often futile, childish, exasperating; shad¬ 
ing off into sodden degredation; as a whole, a century 
or several centuries behind its white neighbors. To get 
on with it peaceably, to rightly apportion with it the op¬ 
portunities and the burdens of the community, to keep 
the common movement directed upward—this demands 
measureless patience, forbearance, wisdom and persist¬ 
ence.’’ 

When the facts which are here cited are plainly put 
before a man, if he is intellectually honest and has enough 
mental strength to warrant attention, he is compelled to 
admit, whether he relishes the fact or not, that this na¬ 
tion at present is firmly set upon the policy of having 
the Negroes of the South win the co-operation of their 
white neighbors. Joseph said to his brethren that they 
would see his face no more unless they brought their 
brother with them. The Federal power seems to be say¬ 
ing to the Negroes of the nation, “You shall not have 
the aid of my strong arm in the South where the rela¬ 
tions of the two races are involved unless you can bring 
with you the support of the dominant public sentiment 
of that section.” 

What we have here pointed out is based, not upon the 
constitution and the laws of the nation but upon public 
sentiment. Let no one despise what is said because of 
this foundation on which it rests. The Memphis News 
Scimitar very aptly says: “Public sentiment is stronger 
than law. Public sentiment is often law, and public sen- 


13 


tiraent sometimes repeals a law while it remains on the 
statutes.” The law gives to the national government 
the power to regulate certain things in all the states, but 
public sentiment which is stronger than law, has handed 
them back to the several states for adjustment. 

There are those in the Negro race, who have discovered 
that this has been done. They have seen that this is the 
polar star of the present national policy, regardless of 
the amount of agitation in favor of a different course. 
A remark made bv Mr. Roscoe Conklin Simmons in 
Augusta, Ga., before an audience of white and colored 
people, on January 1st, 1923, abbrating the issuance of 
the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, 
showed that he had reached the mental state toward 
which the nation has been steadily pushing the Negro 
race for many years. He said: “I am tired of running 
across the Ohio river to plead my case, while the jury 
remains in Georgia. * * * We are met to speak in love 
and not in hate.” 

One of the greatest hindrances in the way of getting 
into the consciousness of the Negro race the idea that this 
nation will not practice coercion on the Southern states 
in its interest is the fact there are politicians in the North 
always in need of the Negro votes in their midst. Every 
two years there is the election of members of the Na¬ 
tional House of Representatives, and every four years a 
President. Practical politicians, who have had assigned 
to them the task of carrying elections, intimate, insinuate 
and, when necessity demands, solemnly declare that the 
Federal Government will do this, that or the other, but 
all such intimations, insinuations and declarations should 
be considered in the light of the facts here given. 

Members of the Negro race need not withold their 
assent from what is here set forth merely because some 
eminent members of the race may not be working in 
that direction. Some able men in every age have been 
slow to see great changes that have takne place. Moses 
preached isolation to the Jews. By the time of Jere- 


14 


miah world-conditions had so changed that isolation 
was no longer possible and Jeremiah advocated federa¬ 
tion with the ruling power instead of unwise and futile 
resistance. Other leaders of his day did not see things 
as he did and brought their nation to the brink of ruin— 
and hurled it over. 

So great a general as Lord Kitchener did not realize 
that the day of the shell, that was being made in Eng¬ 
land when the world war broke out, had passed, and 
Lord Northcliffe suffered much abuse because he called 
attention to a needed change of policy. But Lord North¬ 
cliffe lived to see the whole world acknowledge the cor¬ 
rectness of his position taken in the face of the opposi¬ 
tion of the leaders of thought in his country. 

Patrick Henry contended vigorously against the rati¬ 
fication of the Constitution of the L T nited States by' the 
State of Virginia. Napoleon failed to realize the import¬ 
ance of the steamboat and was willing to give Robert 
Fulton but five minutes in which to put his ideas before 
him. If such leaders in the past were mistaken, it ought 
not to be difficult to conceive of the predominant leader¬ 
ship of the Negro race failing to grasp in its fullness the 
change that has taken place in the mind of the nation. 

The era of open enslavement of man by man had gone, 
but millions did not recognize that fact. William Lloyd 
Garrison, Love joy, Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward 
Beecher, Harriett Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln and 
Frederick Douglass came to tell the story of the death of 
the old era of human slavery and the birth of the new 
era of freedom for all mankind. History tells how they 
were received, and also tells how they persisted, despite 
the hissing that greeted their message. Those who con¬ 
vey to the Negroes the message that the era of Federal 
intervention in any large way with regard to inter-racial 
matters in the South is dead, and that the era of local 
adjustment is in full swing, should be prepared in soul 
to receive the customary rain of stones from the conser¬ 
vative forces that stand amid the shadows of every dying 


15 


day, loudly wailing because of the setting of the sun, 
trembling with fear of the night, not realizing that the 
going out of one day often means that one more glo¬ 
rious is on its way. 

Let the Negro race gird its loins for the great task of 
winning an overwhelming public sentiment in its favor 
among the American people South as well as North . A 
victory thus achieved cannot be taken away by any out¬ 
side force, no matter what may be its strength. 

With regard to matters in general affecting the rela¬ 
tions between the races, let the Negroes learn that the 
South, not the North, is to serve as judge, jury, and 
sheriff, and that an appeal to be fully effective should 
be, not from the South to the North , but from a lower 
to a higher South. 

Does this mean that the Negroes of the South are to 
be forsaken by the world? It does not. The eyes of 
civilization are, and will continue to be focused upon the 
South. The white people of the South desire and will 
continue to desire the good opinion of mankind. This 
unquenchable desire of all progressive people to be en¬ 
titled to the good opinion of their fellows is a mighty 
force that will never leave until full justice has been done 
the Negro race, and until the South is in a position to 
demand, not simply a verdict of not guilty, but the plau¬ 
dit—well done. This is as certain to come to pass as 
the human race is to go forward. 

Fortunately for all concerned machinery is already 
prepared for the carrying forward of such a program of 
sentiment—building in the South as is here contem¬ 
plated. The Y. M. C. A. is already conducting a great 
campaign of this character. The Federal Council of 
Churches of Christ in America has a department giving 
special attention to this line of work, and in Dr. Geo. E. 
Haynes, an upright scholarly Negro, it has a worthy 
leader. In the eight hundred counties of the South there 
are inter-racial committees organized to help bring 
about this longed for better day. What is now needed 




16 


is that white and colored shall throw their full force 
behind such movements. 

Now that it is as plain as a noon-day sun in a cloud¬ 
less sky that the nation has settled upon the policy of 
having the Negro work upon local conditions, the ques¬ 
tion may arise as to whether or not this is a “fool’s er¬ 
rand.” It is admitted on all sides, and especially by 
the progressive element among the white people of the 
South that the Negroes do not get a square deal along 
many lines. Can this condition be changed by forces in 
the South? Will it be changed? Can there be built up 
in the South a sentiment that will result in full justice 
and kindly consideration of the Negro race along all 
lines ? 

Let us note some things that have occurred in the 
South : 

Perhaps the most successful Negro politician of the 
South was N. Wright Cuney of Galveston, Texas. He 
was for a time the acknowledged leader of the Republi¬ 
can party of Texas, and he served as Collector of Cus¬ 
toms of the port of Galveston. He sought at all times 
the good will of his home people of both races and of all 
parties. When the national government fell into the 
hands of the opposition party some of the leading offi¬ 
cials of the party signed petitions asking that he be re¬ 
tained as collector of the port of Galveston until the 
expiration of the full term for which he was appointed. 

Gov. Morrow of Kentucky assumed responsibility for 
the killing of a number of his own race by soldiers in a 
successful effort to protect a Negro prisoner who later 
was adjudged guilty of the brutal murder of a white girl. 

For a period of four years reaching down to the time 
of this writing, amid the riotings between the races and 
the lynching and burning of Negroes at various places, 
Tennessee has stood forth with her skirts clear of Negro 
blood as a result of mob violence despite happenings far 
more shocking than many that stirred other sections to 
their depths. Not only has the state escaped the stigma 


17 


of mobbing Negroes during this period, but she has gone 
forward along other lines. She furnished the deciding 
vote ratifying the amendment giving to the women of the 
nation the privilege of voting. All of these results, and 
more of a similar nature, came as a result of a policy of 
co-operation between the races in the state. 

A group of Negro leaders in San Antonio, Texas, 
caught a vision of the new method and tried it. A white 
man was running for Congress from that district, and 
was trying to reach his goal by appealing to race pre¬ 
judice. Negro leaders did not go into the United States 
court in an effort to get an injunction against him for¬ 
bidding him to make such appeals. They did not de¬ 
cide to appeal to Congress to unseat him in case he was 
1 elected. They did not appeal to the National Republican 
Congressional Committee for funds with which to work 
‘ for his defeat. No, they did none of these things, nor 
1 anything else that smacked of outside intervention. They 
made their appeal directly to their local white neighbors 
and here is what they said to them by means of an ar- 
! tide appearing in the daily press: 
l “To the decent public opinion of mankind of all races: 

“We, who have put forth every human effort to meet 
• the conditions of good citizenship, execrate the studied 
attempts of a crafty politician to make the colored peo- 
! pie an issue, infamous, in his selfish desire for office, 
and appeal to the courageous white people of our South- 
' land on whose doorsteps we and our fathers slept with 
i our axes as pillows to protect the wives and children of 
' Southern soldiers at the front in the war between the 
states, to frown down such wicked tricks involving us. 

“From every angle it appears that this man is unable 
to approach the noble sentiments and high purposes of 
the real white people of the South and blunders forth in 
an infamous career throughout his campaign with Demo¬ 
crat and Republican alike, dealing solely in filth and in¬ 
trigue, and presuming that the best blood and brains of 
America can be moved by sham and race and religious 








18 


hatred alone against 11 s. 

“We are making this appeal without the knowledge or 
advice of any man other than our own people and in the 
interest of no candidate for office, but are making it 
humbly and sincerely to the high character and con¬ 
science of honorable w T hite men in the interest of the 
sane and decent members of our race; and we beg our 
Christian white friends, wise and fearless in the right, 
to discountenance this shameless race antagonism on the 
part of one who cannot understand. 

“(Signed) Rev. J. H. Kelley, pastor Second Bap¬ 
tist Church; Rev. L. H. Richardson; Rev. J. W. 
McDade, Rev. J. W. Wesley, Rev. S. J. Johnson, 
Rev. G. F. Curry, presiding elder; W. 0. Boyd, 
O. J. Carter, H. M. Tarver.’’ 

What was the outcome of this appeal? Although the 
opposing candidate was a Republican and had voted for 
the Dyer Bill, he was overwhelmingly elected in Demo¬ 
cratic Texas. 

If it is the dominating thought of the American people 
to do nothing concerning the race question in the South 
that the white people of that section unitedly and bitterly 
resent to the very last, it is very evident then that a great 
campaign of education must be waged before there will 
be a radical change from the policy of protest to a policy 
of coercion. The job of bringing the nation up to the 
point of coercing the South, if the South says that noth¬ 
ing short of coercion will influence her attitude, is a 
most stupendous one. Since the task is one of making a 
fundamental change in the thoughts of a great people, 
why not work for a fundamental change in the thinking 
of the South? If it is the best thing for all concerned 
for the national government to be summoned to take 
charge of the lynching evil, and if it hesitates to do so 
against the consent and over the violent protest of the 
South, why not then, approach the South in a manner to 
secure its consent? 

The fact that it has heretofore been hostile to the idea 


19 


of national action concerning the practice of lynching, 
need not serve as a bar to such a campaign, for, with re¬ 
gard to other matters tremendous changes have come 
over the mind of the South. It has not been so many 
years since it was a penitentiary offense in the South to 
teach a Negro to read and write. Now the white people 
in some parts of the South are taxing themselves to edu¬ 
cate the Negro, and in Tennessee it is a violation of the 
law to keep a Negro child out of school needlessly during 
the school age. 

The South was at one time most bitterly opposed to 
national prohibition. But this attitude underwent a 
change, and the amendment to the constitution that to¬ 
tally nullified the policy of local option had a southerner 
for its author. No section of the country fought woman 
suffrage more bitterly than did the South, yet the first 
woman to occupy a seat as a member of the United 
States Senate was from the South. The South fought 
and defeated the Blair Education Bill, which provided 
for Federal aid to education to the public schools of the 
South. Recently the Democratic party which is sup¬ 
ported by an almost solid South waged a presidential 
campaign on a platform that contained a declaration in 
favor of Federal aid to education. The chief worker in 
educational circles in this cause at present is a noted 
Southern woman. If such vast changes have been 
wrought in Southern opinion concerning other matters 
who can say that that section cannot be brought to look 
differently upon the question of Federal aid in suppres¬ 
sing the lynching evil! Ex-Governor Hugh M. Dorsey 
of Georgia, writes: “I am disappointed that the United 
States Congress did not pass the Dyer Anti-Lynching 
Bill. Certain it is that the Federal Government should 
do something, if the states fail in the future as in the 
past.” When Ex-Governor Dorsey’s sentiment is the 
predominant sentiment of the South, then there will be 
a chance for Federal action in that matter, but not much 
before that time, if the present policy of the nation con- 


20 


tinues. 

The Negro race has produced a man in Dr. George E. 
Haynes who has been able to produce a book that no 
member of the race has seen fit to criticize either be¬ 
cause of what it says or what it does not say. Through¬ 
out the South white people in organized bodies are en¬ 
gaged in the study of this book, “The Trend of the 
Races.” In other words, the right manner of approach 
has given the Negro race an opportunity to state its own 
case before the very people whose co-operation the na¬ 
tion says must be won before it will proceed further in 
any way. 

We now offer some suggestions concerning the manner 
in which a campaign should be conducted in the South, 
choosing the agitation against lynching as a basis of our 
comments. It should be borne in mind that it is not 
enough for a cause to be just. It must also be presented 
in an effective way. In dealing with a single individual 
the manner of approach counts for a great deal, and it 
is vastly more important when a multitude is involved. 
When a lynching occurs it should be condemned vigor¬ 
ously and without apology, yet the language should be 
well chosen, couched in civil terms and should have for 
its aims the stirring in the hearts of those who read it 
an increased determination to put an end to the evil. 

The whole South should not be blamed for every out¬ 
break anywhere in that section. There are counties in 
the South whose proud boast is that they have never had 
a lynching within their borders. It is sometimes the 
case that at one point lawlessness is being resorted to, 
while at another at the very same time heroic and suc¬ 
cessful efforts are being put forth in behalf of the or¬ 
derly process of the law. When a lynching occurs why 
not single out the guilty community for appropriate 
criticism? The Negro race has often suffered great harm 
and has been handicapped in its upward struggle by be¬ 
ing held accountable in the public mind for the deeds 


21 


of individuals. As forces in the South struggle for bet¬ 
ter things, do not load them down with the odium that 
belongs to those working in the opposite direction. 

In making the argument against lynching do not fail 
to approach the subject from the standpoint of the in¬ 
terest of the white South. Lynching injures the white 
people of the South more than it does any other group. 
In the case of the Negro, some good has come out of 
evil, as has often been the case in human history. Lynch¬ 
ing has served to develop a needed race consciousness 
that seemed slow in arriving in any other way. But in 
the case of the white people the evil has been an unmiti¬ 
gated evil. It has been all loss, and no gain. It 
is their group that must absorb the spirits that are 
hardened by the excesses accompanying lynching. Their 
statesmen are the ones shut out from the larger favors 
of the nation and the world because of the stigma that 
rests upon their section in the minds of the people of 
the world. 

The world is passing through the most awful crisis in 
its history, standing above a yawning chasm that threat¬ 
ens to engulf all that civilization has wrought out. The 
one word that the world needs is “ steady, ?? but the ac¬ 
tion of the mob is a suggestion to the brute that lies 
slumbering in the natures of all men. The South can be 
appealed to to deny shelter to the mobs that make this 
sinister, this woefully dangerous suggestion to the spirit 
of lawlessness that there is in men. 

One of the greatest assets of any people is the pos¬ 
session on the part of individuals of a sense of personal 
responsibility for the general welfare. Where the exe¬ 
cution of alleged criminals is known to have been with¬ 
drawn from the hands of the state there is either assent 
or dissent. Where there is dissent, mobs will be mas¬ 
tered. Where there is assent it is a sign that that finest 
of all things in human government, the sense of personal 
responsibility for the general welfare is oozing out. 
Where this sense is lacking governmental matters are 


22 


left to those whose chief aim is to get something out of 
the government for themselves. Analyze the election re¬ 
turns from the states that indulge most in lynchings and 
it will be found that a very small proportion of citizens 
manifest interest in either general or primary elections 
as compared with those states in which the citizen is ac¬ 
corded responsibility by allowing the administration of 
the law to remain in the hands of those designated by 
him. Nowhere in the world is there an efficient govern¬ 
ment where the sense of personal responsibility is miss¬ 
ing, and no greater calamity can come to any state than 
for that sense to disappear. 

The foregoing arguments against the practice of lynch¬ 
ing are but samples of what can be mustered against the 
evil. If the Negro leadership of the nation will join 
hands with the white leadership in the South that is 
fighting this evil, and sentiment is moulded against it 
in every hamlet, who is it that can say that the time 
will not come when the South will welcome aid from any 
honorable source to rid itself of an incubus that so 
greatly is besmirching its name in the world? 

In dealing with the race question, along the line of 
local adjustment, the question of atmosphere must be 
kept in mind at all times. If a white man commits a 
crime against a Negro, witnesses must be found who 
will testify, a grand jury that will indict, a petit jury 
that will convict, a judge that will sustain the convic¬ 
tion, a governor that will not upset the conviction by a 
pardon. Whether the punishment is sought by the local 
or the Federal government, on the whole the same things 
are necessary. 

At every step cited the co-operation of the white peo¬ 
ple is necessary. If Negro witnesses testify against a 
white man, and ample white witnesses are found to tes¬ 
tify in his favor, the case is likely to be lost. Grand 
juries do not have to indict nor petit juries convict , un¬ 
less they wish to do so. If they fail utterly to render 
decisions in keeping with the facts, there is no way to 



23 


punish them for so doing. 

Juries are drawn from the ranks of the people and 
usually reflect public sentiment. If there is not in the 
hearts of the people a spirit to punish for an offense, it 
will be difficult to find the spirit in a jury. In an at¬ 
mosphere of racial bitterness it would be difficult to se¬ 
cure a jury of white men to convict a white man for 
an alleged offense against a Negro. If the Negroes are 
to have the benefit of a just administration of the law, 
there must be a kindly feeling towards them among the 
white people who are their neighbors. 

Seeing the need of men working along the line of local 
adjustment, the Negro race should broaden its mind and 
open its heart to receive them. Such workers should be 
treated with the utmost fairness. The language of diplo¬ 
macy is never as blunt as that of the man who is indif¬ 
ferent with regard to the matter of making or losing a 
friend, and the spirit of kindness that must be exhibited 
by the successful diplomat must not be taken as a sign 
of a lack of the deepest sort of interest in the things 
that may be going wrong. 

And as men labor to change a hostile or indifferent 
sentiment into an enthusiastically helpful one, let those 
for whom they toil recognize the fact that progress, in 
the very nature of things, must be slow. One cannot 
hurry the growth of seed-thoughts any more than he 
can hasten the sprouting of seeds put into the earth. 
Nor can the world’s most powerful gun shoot away in 
an instant sentiment and customs that have been accu- 
[mulating for centuries. 

Although the nation has said to the Negro in every way 
that a nation can speak to its citizens that henceforth he 
must win friends for himself in his own locality, yet 
there are those in the race who call for the tone and the 
method that will embitter and enrage, who decry those 
who seek by a course of sanity and tactfulness to win 
the local friendship for the race which the nation insists 
that it must have. 




24 


This clamor must not be heeded on the sole ground 
that it comes from the multitude. Did not the multitude 
clamor for the release of Barabbas instead of the Christ? 
So often it has happened in the career of mankind that 
great groups of people, some of them highly intelligent, 
have called for things that were the very opposite of what 
they should have been given. The South clamored for 
secession, whereas the success of secession would have 
been bad for the South, the nation and the world. The 
people of Germany were eager for war, and it came; but 
it brought endless woe to the German nation. Likewise, 
it is possible for the Negroes to insist that a course be 
pursued that is directly opposed to what wisdom would 
dictate. 

The news columns of The Chicago Whip, a Negro 
newspaper, recently carried this statement in its news 
columns: ‘‘It is understood that all American Negroes 
are unwelcome in Brazil/ ’ It has been claimed that 
Brazil is entirely free from race prejudice, and that her 
citizens of African descent enjoy equal privileges with 
all other citizens. If this is true it is apparent that the 
line is drawn, not against Negroes, but against American 
Negroes. Are we fighting our battles in such a tone and 
temper as to poison the mind of the world! In com¬ 
menting upon books published in the United States 
bearing on the racial situation, a Northern publication 
once said: “It is strange, as well as touching, that the 
best tempered books on the perennial ‘Negro question’ 
are by men of African blood in their veins/’ Are we 
to lose this praise for our manner of fighting? 

One of the most glorious heritages of the Christian re¬ 
ligion is the manner in which its followers carried them¬ 
selves in the days of bitter persecution. Their firm¬ 
ness, their courage, their loyalty, their upright conduct, 
their refusal to stoop to the level of their tormentors, 
have caused that period of the church’s history to be 
the most revered. WTiat impression shall the world get 
of the Negro’s soul as a result of the manner in which 


i 












25 


he fights his battle? He can be firm but he need not 
be bitter, he can scorn the wrong and the wrongdoer, 
but he need not lose the sense of human brotherhood; 
he can dream of a better day, but he did not give the 
impression of one running amuck while he dreams. 

If the Negro ignores the forces of evolution that are 
sure to bring things right in the end and succeeds in 
convincing the world that he is part of a hopeless snarl, 
then will the world draw up its skirts from him. Mexico, 
developing a fear of a similar snare, will put up the 
bars; the sections of Africa in charge of Europeans 
will be on the alert for all Afro-Americans to close the 
doors tightly against them, and the dependence of the 
African upon his American brother for enlightenment 
will be a vain one. 

It is not enough for a man merely to know that his 
cause is just. He should know how to battle in such a 
way as not only to win the battle, but to win the plaud¬ 
its of friend and foe because of the manner in which 
the battle was fought. 

The three fundamental principles of our American 
civilization are said to be liberty, equality and frater¬ 
nity. On the whole the Negroes of this country have 
liberty, but along some lines equality and fraternity have 
not come. Workers for Negro progress have divided 
into sections, the one working for the attainment of 
equality, the other laboring for fraternity. 

Here is opportunity for misunderstanding and need¬ 
less atagonism in the Negro race. The tone of the work¬ 
ers for fraternity and the things used by them in their 
campaign necessarily will be different from those who 
are working for equality. Workers for equality will stress 
every form of discrimination; workers for fraternity will 
delight in citing every forward step. The cry of dis¬ 
tress will be the weapon of the seeker after equality; 
the message of good will, that of the advocate of frater¬ 
nity. Will these two sets of workers despise each other, 
g^rw to regard each other as fools and knaves? 



26 


The policy of local adjustment may utterly and mis¬ 
erably fail, as other policies before it have done. But 
our nation, which was courageous enough to face the 
issue of purifying itself of the scourge of slavery at so 
tremendous a price of fratricidal blood, has the moral 
right to ask that the emancipated and educated freed- 
man shall use his freedom and his education in a way to 
settle matters in the hearts and minds of all men, so 
that no where in all this broad land can there be found 
any one who would unjustly deny to the Negro the op¬ 
portunity to use whatever power he has to contribute to 
the welfare of the nation. 


AS TO A FUTURE FOR THE AMERICAN 


NEGRO. 


Abraham Lincoln said that God must have loved the 
common people, else he would not have made so many 
of them. If numbers testify to the love of God, then the 
Negro race stands high in his favor. There are more 
Negroes in the world than there are Anglo-Saxons, or 
Germans, or Frenchmen, or Spaniards, or Russians, or 
Turks, or Japanese. 

Did God have some purpose in mind when he created 
this race so vast m numbers? Be that as it may there 
clearly is a great and a distinct mission for the Negro 
in the world. Dr. Frank Crane suggests a great spiritual 
mission in these words: 4 4 There are certain qualities of 
spirit, certain shades of passion and of conscience, which ! 
the Negro can portray better than any other race. ‘ 
There is a pathos, a tenderness, an edge of sympathy, a 
beauty of loyalty, and a genuineness of simplicity 
wherein the African excels. 

“I think the Negro is by nature the race suited to 
Christianity. He has none of that hard pride that stains 
the Caucasian. He is the exact opposite of the Prus- 


1 




sian. 




eh c 

There are others who hold that the Negro race s 5 









27 


tains a vital relation to the welfare of the world in ma¬ 
terial things. The ever increasing populations of the 
colder regions of the world and the tremendous activi-\ 
ties of the people will ultimately outstrip native re¬ 
sources and search will have to be made elsewhere for 
the things with which to sustain life and a progressive 
civilization. In such an event increased attention will 
be given to the fertile tropical regions of Africa. As a 
matter of fact this is already being done. 

If the world is to be dependent upon the tropics there 
is need that the people of the region shall be able to 
meet all the requirements of civilized life. But this is 
not the present status of the African of the tropical re¬ 
gions. Mr. P. W. Wilson, in an article appearing in the 
New York World says: “Where the Negroes are most 
national—that is, in countries entirely inhabited by them 
—they are the least able to face the actualities of modern 
progress. ” 

Now, how are the Negroes to be brought up to the 
point where they can share nobly in the world’s work? 
The late Benjamin Kidd, one of the most far-seeing 
men of modern times, discussing this question, said: 
“What is the future of what are called the lower races 
of the world? It is one of the most pressing sociologi- 
1 cal and political questions of the age.If it were pos¬ 

sible to regard the Negro race in America as destined 
1 fully to emerge from the conditions imposed by slavery, 

3 and permanently to acquire some of the stronger fea¬ 
tures of a civilization in the midst of which it finds it¬ 
self, the effect on the world might be incalculable. Some 
e of the reasons for thinking so may be briefly stated. 
a (l) The white races are physically unable to colonize 
•the tropics; (2) the black man must eventually monopo¬ 
lize the soil, commerce and industries of central and 
western Africa; (3) the increased demand for rice and 
cotton will press the development of the resources of the 
tropics; (4) the tropical Negro is at present incapable 
of answering this demand; and (5) the American Negro 


if 


1 








28 


with full development, will be best fitted of all peoples 
on earth to supply the inhabitants of the tropics with 
the necessary training and leadership.” 

If the Negro race in the United States is to do this 
work which is so important both for the welfare of thi 
Negroes of the world as well as for all mankind, there is 
needed an ample birth rate, and a careful safeguarding 
of our health that we may have enough of a population 
to hold our hard won position in American civilization 
and to furnish Africa with its needed leadership. 

The English had the capacity to maintain their foot¬ 
ing in England and at the same time to expand all over 
the world, especially in the United States, Canada, Aus¬ 
tralia and New Zealand. In like manner the Negro race 
should be able to maintain its American) footing and 
spread itself abroad usefully. 

But is there to be an American Negro in the years 
that lie far ahead to do these great things to which we 
have referred? There are two ways in which the race 
can be caused to disappear as a race. At present the de¬ 
sire to maintain their respective racial identities is com¬ 
mon to both races throughout the country. The Negro 
wishes to abide a Negro and the white man a white man, 
and there is no general desire for any form of inter¬ 
mingling that would result in blotting out racial lines. 
Should this feeling disappear, amalgamation would ul¬ 
timately wipe out the Negroes as a distinct race in 
America. But since there is no movement of any size 
in that direction we may dismiss that matter from con¬ 
sideration as a practical question. 

But there is a direction from which the future exist¬ 
ence of the race in America is threatened. The cities of 
the country, South and North have been issuing their 
calls for Negro labor and have drained the rural dis- ( 
tricts of many of their Negro tenants. The result has u 
been a steady decline in the rate of increase of the Ne- 
gro population. Should this movement continue until 
the rural districts have been emptied, and the entire Ne-^ 


m 





29 


gro race in the United States has been drawn into the 
cities, then will come the total elimination of the race, if 
things go on as at present. For, in the cities of the na¬ 
tion the Negro death rate greatly exceeds the birth rate. 

We have the figures for one year that strikingly illus¬ 
trate the drift of things: 

Excess of 
Deaths 

Deaths Births Over Births 

Washington, D. C-2,704 2,003 701 


Boston, Mass_ 327 240 87 

New York City, N. Y_1,970 1,430 540 

Chicago, Ill.. 679 389 290 

St. Louis, Mo....1,555 594 961 


In these five of the finest cities of America there were 
two thousand five hundred and seventy-nine more deaths 
than births during the year considered. Take all the 
Negroes from the rural districts where the births ex¬ 
ceed the deaths and put them in the cities where the 
deaths so greatly exceed the births and no mathematician 
is needed to tell what the final result will be. The late 
Nathaniel S. Shaler, philosopher and scientist says, 
“North of the limit of the old slave states ,the death rate 
increases in a rapid manner, so that the Negro popu¬ 
lation would, if unrecruited, soon become extinct.” 

The city of Indianapolis has about as fine and pro¬ 
gressive a body of colored people as are to be found in 
any city of the United States. They developed there 
a Negro woman millionaire. They have the world’s 
largest Negro Y. M. C. A. They have splendid churches, 
able ministers and a group of capable business and pro¬ 
fessional men. Yet note what would happen to the Negro 
race as a race in America if all dwelt in Indianapolis 
or other cities with like conditions. The death rate of 
the people of New York for 1920 was 12:3; Massa¬ 
chusetts, 12.2; Kansas, 10.2. In the city of Indianapolis 
the death rate of the Negroes was 21.4. The Negroes in 
that city are dying out more than twice as fast as the 
people of Kansas! For every hundred thousand popu- 






30 


lation of Indianapolis the death rate of the whites from 
tuberculosis is 180.3. That of the colored is 442.5, or 
more than two and one-third times that of the whites of 
the city. 

For the first nine months of 1921 the American 
death rate was 11.6. For the same period in 1922 the 
death rate was 11.7. When the American people dis¬ 
covered that their death rate had increased one-tenth 
of one per cent their thinkers began to give serious con¬ 
sideration to the matter. Surely, then, with city life 
sweeping away Negroes at about twice the rate at which 
the others are going, and at a rate far in excess of the 
birth rate in the cities, surely there should be a states¬ 
manlike view of the matter of transferring the whole 
Negro population to the cities. 

To those of us who really love our people, who be¬ 
lieve in the possibilities of the race, who crave for it an 
honorable place among the great races of all time, the 
matter of the abandonment of rural life is no light af¬ 
fair. We have read of cases of individuals who went 
with light hearts to their executions, but it would be a 
pitiable sight to see a great race marching with airy 
tread toward total extinction. 

The cosmic forces, the breath of the almighty God, 
have brought the American Negro to his present status 
at a tremendous cost, a cost so great that the world’s 
most astute mathematician cannot compute it. There 
was the voyage across the waters in the crowded steer¬ 
age, and the feeding to the waves of the countless dead 
who perished on those journeys. There were the hundreds 
of years of unpaid toil and the toll of agony and blood in¬ 
evitable to a system of slavery. And there stands thej 
record of the civil war, America paying its price with; 
some of the best blood of both sections, all a part of the! 
scheme of the cosmic forces to plant here a great branch' 
of the Negro race. Shall all this vast expenditure go 
for naught? Have the cosmic forces battled for naught? 
Such would seem to be the case if in any way and for any 


31 


cause we permit the American Negro to disappear from 
the earth, ere his great mission in the world is fulfilled. 

Dismissing from our thoughts the question as to 
whether future years shall find a Negro race in the 
United States, we approach the question of a Southern 
home for the Negro from another angle. The Negroes 
of the South have built up and now have the greatest civ¬ 
ilization ever wrought out in the history of the race. They 
have also supplied the Northern Negro population with 
a large part of its wealth, energy and enterprise, as may 
be seen by the advances made in Negro achievements in 
the North since the advent of the Southern Negroes. 

In the past, in other parts of the world, the Negroes 
have made some truly great beginnings. But invariably 
either by forces within or without, what they have done 
has been uprooted. If the civilization which they have 
built up in the South is torn down, it will only be a repe¬ 
tition of what has always happened in the history of the 
race, a thing which, more than anything else, accounts 
for the present degree of difference between the achieve¬ 
ments of Negroes and the advanced races of mankind. 

Must we now flee and leave behind the greatest thing 
we have ever done? Is it not infinitely better for us as 
a race to grapple manfully with the forces that wrong us, 
calling to our aid the moral support of the good people 
among whom we live. Whether the evils complained of 
are economic, or pertain to the enjoyment of civic privi¬ 
leges, the protection of property and the safeguarding of 
life, or whatever they are, let us seek to remove them, 
holding in mind that every race that is to have a future 
must have a rural life. 

Out on the plantations of the South some have been 
fair, kind and even generous to their Negro tenants. 
This conduct should not fall short of a just reward. By 
flocking to the fair and the just, by rewarding those who 
have done right, we thus put a premium upon such con¬ 
duct that will breed others of this kind, and will finally 
drive all others out of business. 


32 


We will be lacking in statesmanship, we will be un¬ 
mindful of the future of a great race if we conceive our 
duty fully done when wu Tiave plucked the Negro tree up 
by its roots, when we have brought to a close the whole 
rural life of the race. 

There ought to be a determined and unrelenting effort 
to find and to cure the ills of rural life. It is up to the 
statesmanship of the Negro race in America to bring 
such pressure to bear, in the right place and in the right 
way that will yet cause us to have in this country a rural 
Negro, happy, prosperous, hopeful, contented, feeling 
secure with regard to life and property, enjoying the 
privileges of civilization to the fullest extent of his mer¬ 
its, and rearing children with a sturdiness of character 
to hold all gains made by the race at such fearful cost, 
and with a vision and an energy to comprehend and exe¬ 
cute the great distinctive world program which has de¬ 
volved upon us, and us alone, to carry to a successful 
conclusion. 

AS TO AMENDING THE SYSTEM OF 

EDUCATION. 

There are some very vital needs of the Negro race 
that are not being met by the very best educational sys¬ 
tem worked out by the English speaking race. In recog¬ 
nition of this plain fact, Honorable John J. Tigrett, 
United States Commissioner of Education, says: “The 
American Negro needs leaders in his own race.” Mr. 
Madison Grant, in his book, “The Passing of the Or eat 
Race,” says: “It has taken us fifty years to learn that 
speaking English, wearing good clothes and going to 
school and to church do not transform the Negro.” The 
great philosopher, the late Herbert Spencer, says: 
“Though it has become commonplace that the institutions 
under which one race prospers will not answer for an¬ 
other, the recognition of that truth is not adequate.” 

Now, why is the system of education worked out by 


33 


the white race failing to meet some of the gravest needs 
of the Negro race? That system is mainly intellectual, 
whereas grave Negro defects are found outside of the 
intellectual field altogether. Benjamin Kidd says: “The 
Negro children exhibit no intellectual inferiority .... 
The deficiency they exhibit in later life is of quite a dif¬ 
ferent kind. The lacking qualities are not intellectual 
qualities at all. They are precisely those which con¬ 
tribute in so high degree to social efficiency and racial 
ascendency . . . Even the highest intellectual capacity in. 
no way tends to compensate for the lack of these quali¬ 
ties. We may go even further and say that its posses¬ 
sion without these qualities tends to further lower the 
social efficiency.” 

Now, can traits be changed? Is the task here set be¬ 
fore the Negro race one that is within the range of pos¬ 
sibility? The great Grecian philosopher, Plato, was the 
first to teach that human nature can be changed. 

Mr. J. S. Huxley says: “Such facts, among many 
others, make us feel that we are on the verge of a con¬ 
trol of living matter which will make even our control 
of inorganic matter seem unimportant. And the results 
will not merely be capable of changing our environment, 
they will be capable of changing us—our constitutions, 
our very nature/ ’ 

The late Benjamin Kidd says: “An entire nation may 
be completely altered in character, in outlook and in mo¬ 
tive in a single generation.” 

Mr. Ernest Hocking, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy 
in Harvard University, says: “Human beings as we 
find them, are accordingly artificial products, and for 
better or for worse they must always be such. Nature 
has made us; social action and our own efforts must 
continually remake us/’ 

Mr. H. G. Wells, in his “Outline of History” says: 
“It is only slowly that the world is beginning to realize 
how profoundly the tacit education of circumstances can 
be supplemented, modified, or corrected by positive 






34 


teaching, by literature, discussion and properly criti¬ 
cized experience/' 

A supreme need of the Negro race is an educational 
system that will give special attention to the traits that 
make for co-operation. 

Although the English have a great capacity in this di¬ 
rection, a society has been formed to teach' co-operative 
principles in the retail stores, kindergartens, grammar 
schools and high schools, and a large sum of money has 
been appropriated to establish a university for the same 
purpose. 

The earlier trend of Negro education under the guid¬ 
ance of Northern philanthropy was in the direction of 
giving to the race and to the country men and vromen 
with keen, well-informed minds, and of upright charac¬ 
ter. Later under the leadership of Booker T. Washing¬ 
ton special attention was given to the matter of develop¬ 
ing industrial efficiency. The size of the problems be¬ 
fore the Negro race, problems that are alive with possi¬ 
bilities touching the white race, now call loudly for edu¬ 
cation for social efficiency, and it is the duty of Negro 
leaders and educators to seek to secure such arrange¬ 
ments with those in charge of the school life of the race 
as will insure training along the lines here indicated. 

Will the Negro make these necessary, vital amend¬ 
ments to his educational system! Mr. Lothrop Stoddard, 
in his book, “The Bising Tide of Color says: “The 
Negro is a facile, even eager imitator, but there he 
stops. He adopts, but he does not adapt, assimilate and 
give forth creatively again. ” 

If what Mr. Stoddard says is true of the American 
Negro, then there will be no amendment of the educa¬ 
tional system of the white race. But, let us hope that 
this is not true of him. 

But the American white people have a substantial 
equity in this matter. By virtue of their history, their 
measure of enlightnment, their wealth and their superior 


35 


numbers, upon tlie white people of this country rests 
the chief responsibility for the welfare of this nation. 
But the entire responsibility does not rest with them. 
The Negroes have their share, and the white people are 
affected by the manner in which the Negroes meet or do 
not meet that responsibility. 

The agencies of government by no means reach all 
the social needs of a group. There must be social 
agencies to supplement and vitalize governmental 
agencies, and where such do not exist evils of various 
kinds creep into the life of a people. And where two 
races live side by side there is no chance whatever of 
preventing the evils in the life of the one from affecting 
the life of the other. 

It has been demonstrated over and over again that a 
criminal can commit a crime of such brutality as to up¬ 
set for the time being standards thought to be secure 
against attack. 

Civilization brings to individuals new temptations and 
new tests unknown where civilization does not exist. 
There is no way known to earth to prevent the develop¬ 
ment of criminals except through agencies that are born 
out of the spirit of co-operation. It will amount to a 
tragedy of astounding proportions for the Negroes to 
be subjected to the tests and temptations of this great 
civilization without the full development of the co-opera¬ 
tive spirit with which to meet them. It is manifestly to 
the interests of both races that forces exist in the Negro 
race capable of preventing the growth of characters that 
commit crimes that arouse the baser passions of men, 
leading to disgraceful excesses. 

It will be a crime against the future of the race, a 
highly injurious loss to the cause of human progress, an 
evil of far reaching proportions if those who are educat¬ 
ing the Negro fail to give constant, special attention to 
the development of the moral qualities, the shaping of 
the mental tendencies, and the moulding of the tempera¬ 
mental traits which must be possessed before there is the 




36 


manifestation of collective efficiency, a power which wins 
a measure of respect that absolutely can come in no other 
way, and the absence of which leaves a festering of con¬ 
tempt in the minds of men. 

For, the human mind is so constituted that it is im¬ 
possible for it to accord a full measure of respect to any 
one or any thing that does things far beneath what is 
reasonably expected. This law of human judgment is 
just as powerful and unchanging in the affairs of men 
as are the laws of gravitation in the physical universe. 

The late Professor Shaler says: i ‘While the people of 
the Eurasian continent were in process of social develop¬ 
ment in the ten thousand years or more, down to the 
end of the fifteenth century, those of Africa, except the 
northern fringe of the continent in the lower part of the 
Nile valley, and along the shores of the Mediterranean, 
remained apart/’ The most important part of man’s 
development has been his development as a social being, 
and if the Negro race was isolated during the ten thou¬ 
sand years that social development was being carried on 
by other groups, it is quite plain that something should 
be done to atone for the great loss. We strongly urge 
civic training as an influence to counteract this great 
loss. It is said that our Indian corn, through a period of 
hundreds of years, was evolved from a certain kind of 
grass. The knowledge of plant life which man now pos¬ 
sesses, enables him to do within a very few years that 
which it took the Indians hundreds of years to do. Like¬ 
wise, if special attention is given to the development of 
certain traits that are but feebly functioning in the 
Negro race, we can reach the goal far short of a period 
of ten thousand years. 

AS TO READJUSTMENT IN POLITICS. 

Once every four years thousands of colored people 
join in the effort to elect a Republican to the presidency 
of the United States. A hope that inspires many to take 
such a course is that a president will be elected, who with 


37 


the aid of a friendly Congress will enforce the Fifteenth 
Amendment to the constitution, which provides that the 
rights of citizens to vote shall not be abridged on account 
of race, color or previous conditions of servitude. But 
after the Republican president has taken his seat and 
Congress has assembled, it becomes apparent each time 
that there is to be no enforcement of the Fifteenth 
Amendment by the Federal Government. 

Take for an example the Congress that came into 
power with President Harding. In the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives the Republicans had a majority of 160. In 
the Senate their majority was 24. Yet there was no at¬ 
tempt at the enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment. 
Why does it happen thus, over and over again ? 

The enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment in an 
impartial manner by the Federal Government would 
cause the white people of certain sections of the South 
to be brought under the political control of Negroes. 

In the State of South Carolina, according to the census 
of 1910, there were 156,682 more Negroes than there 
were white people. In Mississippi there were 323,376 
more Negroes than whites. In Beaufort County, S. Caro¬ 
lina, out of every hundred persons more than 86 were 
colored. In Issaquena County, Mississippi, out of each 
hundred persons more than 94 were Negroes. Scattered 
throughout the South there are other counties in which 
the Negro population is far in excess of that of the 
whites. In Clarksdale, Mississippi, there were 2,478 col¬ 
ored people and 1,601 whites; in Greenville, Mississippi, 
6,010 colored and 3,600 whites; in Greenwood, Missis¬ 
sippi, 3,062 colored and 2,774 whites; in Vicksburg, Mis¬ 
sissippi, 12,053 colored and 8,761 whites; in Yazoo City, 
Mississippi, 4,154 colored and 2,642 whites. In other 
cities throughout the South there is a decided majority 
of Negroes. 

It is very evident that the Negroes could control such 
places as these. But public sentiment in the North does 
not favor the putting of white people under Negro con- 




38 


trol. The Chicago Tribune says: “We admit frankly, 
that if political equality had meant the election of Negro 
mayors, judges and a majority of Negroes in the city 
council the whites would not have tolerated it. We do 
not believe that the whites of Chicago would be any dif¬ 
ferent from the whites of the South in this respect. We 
have been able to extend the essentials of citizenship to 
the Negroes freely because the whites are dominant in 
numbers. ’’ 

Having quoted the Republican Chicago Tribune, let 
us now hear from the democrats. Hon. Wm. Jennings 
Bryan who is thoroughly familiar with the trend of pub¬ 
lic sentiment in the United States at the present time, 
says: “There is not a State in the Union in which the 
whites would permit black supremacy/ ’ Let us not make 
the mistake of thinking that The Chicago Tribune is 
merely expressing the opinion of its editor, or that Mr. 
Bryan is stating merely what he thinks. These expres¬ 
sions were not made in a corner. If they did not repre¬ 
sent American thought why has there been no general 
rejection of them? The republican papers and states¬ 
men did not repudiate what the Tribune said, nor did 
the democrats protest against Mr. Bryan’s statement. 
The simple fact is that this is not a republican view nor 
a democratic view, but the position now assumed by the 
united white population of this country. If this is really 
the status of American public sentiment, we have no 
more right to resent being told that it is so, than the peo¬ 
ple of the world had to find fault with Commodore Peary 
because of the intense cold surrounding the North Pole 
which he discovered. 

Also it should be clear to us by this time that if it 
is the purpose of the American people to so arrange af¬ 
fairs as to prevent Negroes from taking advantage of 
their superiority in numbers in certain places to assume 
full control of affairs, that this purpose cannot be altered 
by even the most strenuous sort of protesting to the ef¬ 
fect that it is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution of 


39 


the United States. 

When confronted with the suggestion that Negroes 
would dominate where their numbers greatly exceed 
those of the white people, some Negro leaders have 
stated that there is no thought of seeking domination. 
Over against this claim the following facts are cited: 

On the whole the Negro race practices solidarity in its 
voting. The compelling force of Negro public opinion 
reaches out to drag all along with the crowd. It is looked 
upon as a sort of sin to break ranks. There is no sharp 
division in political matters in the Negro race such as 
is found in the white race where political conditions are 
regarded as normal. In the northern part of the United 
States, with all political doors open to the race, as a rule 
the masses overwhelmingly abide in one party. There 
are some marked exceptions to this general practice. In 
Liberia there is only one political party. With this ten¬ 
dency toward solidarity what could prevent the Negroes 
from controlling elections in centers where they are de¬ 
cidedly in the majority? 

It cannot be said that the Negroes would not dominate 
because of a lack of political ambition. The presence 
of ambition is seen in the recent candidacy of Negroes 
for the Governorship in Arkansas and in Virginia, for a 
seat in Congress from Tennessee, and a seat in the Sen¬ 
ate from Maryland. It is felt that the Negro leaders 
who seek to reassure the public by saying that domina¬ 
tion is not sought could not prevent its coming if the 
Negroes, having numbers, the solidarity and political as¬ 
pirations, should also have the active support of the 
Federal Government. 

Not only is there a sentiment against taking such ac¬ 
tion as would put Negroes in control of whites, but there 
are those who hold that the Fifteenth Amendment is de¬ 
fective so that it can be easily evaded. The late James G. 
Blaine, one of the most eminent and ablest republicans 
of his day, thus sets forth what he regards as the defect 
in the amendment: 


40 


“When therefore the nation by subsequent change in 
its Constitution declared that the State shall not exclude 
the Negro from the right of suffrage, it neutralized and 
surrendered the contingent right before held, to exclude 
him from the basis of apportionment. Congress is thus 
plainly deprived by the Fifteenth Amendment of certain 
powers over representation in the South, which it pre¬ 
viously possessed under the provisions of the Fourteenth 
Amendment. Before the adoption of the Fifteenth 
Amendment, if a State should exclude the Negro from 
suffrage, the next step would be for Congress to exclude 
the Negro from the basis of apportionment. After the 
adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment, if a State should 
exclude the Negro from suffrage, the next step would be 
for the Supreme Court to declare that the act was un¬ 
constitutional, and therefore null and void. The essen¬ 
tial and inestimable value of the Fourteenth Amendment 
still remains in the three other sections, and pre-emi¬ 
nently in the first section. 

“The contentions which have arisen between political 
parties as to the right of Negro suffrage in the Southern 
States, would scarcely be cognizable judicially under 
either the fourteenth or fifteenth Amendment to the Con¬ 
stitution. Both of those amendments operate as inhibi¬ 
tions upon the power of the State, and do not have ref¬ 
erence to those irregular acts of the people which find no 
authorization in the public statutes. The defect in both 
Amendments, in so far as their main object of securing 
rights to the colored race is involved, lies in the fact that 
they do not operate directly upon the people, and there¬ 
fore Congress is not endowed with the pertinent and ap¬ 
plicable power to give redress.” 

Those who think that the question of placing the bal¬ 
lot in the hands of the Negro race as a whole is merely 
a question of the North being in a mood to do so, have 
not thought deeply enough of the matter. The white 
people of the South in the past have not shown a dispo¬ 
sition to respect a law that leaves out of consideration 










41 


the opinions of their people as a whole. If the states 
of the South develop a sense of separate and distinct na¬ 
tionality and manifest a willingness to fight for inde¬ 
pendence there are forces in the world that would gladly 
combine with them to help them secure their desires. 

It is not amiss at this juncture to call attention to fac¬ 
tors that have brought about the state of public senti¬ 
ment in which the Negroes must work out their political 
destiny. Records that have been left behind indicate 
that there was great extravagance on the part of repre¬ 
sentatives chosen by Negro voters in the days of recon¬ 
struction. It was the alleged capacity of the Negro race 
to be misled that caused the first great lapse of public 
sentiment that had existed in its favor. 

Writing concerning reconstruction days, the late Jas. 
Gr. Blaine, the most distinguished Republican of his day, 
says in his book, “Tiventy Years in Congress”: “The 
consequence was that some of the States had wretched 
governments, officered by bad men, who misled the Ne¬ 
gro and engaged in riotous corruption. Their transgres¬ 
sions were made so conspicious that the Republican lead¬ 
ers of other Southern states, who were really trying to 
act their part worthily and honorably, were obscured 
from view, and did not obtain a fair hearing at the bar 
of public opinion. The government of South Carolina, 
under its series of Republican administrations, was of 
such character as brought shame upon the Republican 
party, exposed the Negro voters to unmerited obloquy 
and thus wrought for the cause of free government and 
equal suffrage in the South incalculable harm. The 
Southern state governments proved a source of angry 
contention inside the Republican party of the North, and 
thus brought one more calamity to the Negro.” 

The action of the Negroes with regard to the Philip¬ 
pine question had a reflex influence on their status. The 
Negroes were the beneficiaries of the doctrine that all 


42 


men are created equal, and that governments derive their 
just powers from the consent of the governed. There 
was no way for the Republican party to lead the nation 
to take over Phillipine Islands without casting these doc¬ 
trines overboard for the time being at least. The hold¬ 
ing of the Phillipine Islands without the consent of the 
inhabitants was equivalent to denying the equality of all 
men and the ignoring of the doctrine of consent as a 
necessary accompaniment of the right to govern. The 
Negro voters on the whole helped the Republican party 
by their votes to inaugurate the policy that committed 
the entire nation to the contention that is perfectly all 
right to rule some classes of people without their consent. 
Thus the Negroes helped to smother the contentions 
upon which the pleas for the Negroes of the South had 
been made. 

Another factor in bringing about the present political 
status of the Negro was the action taken by representa¬ 
tives of the race in the contest in 1912 between Mr. Taft 
and the late Col. Roosevelt for the nomination for the 
presidency. Public sentiment in the North was strongly 
in favor of Roosevelt’s nomination, as shown by the fact 
that he had a good majority of the northern delegates. 
A majority of Negro delegates voted for the nomination 
of Mr. Taft and furnished the votes necessary to defeat 
Roosevelt for the nomination. Up to that time public 
sentiment in the North had sanctioned unreservedly the 
presence in the National Republican Convention of Ne¬ 
gro delegates from the South, but ever since the Negroes 
went against northern public sentiment in the convention 
of 1912, there has been a steady drift of sentiment 
against the Negro race politically. The movement to 
cut down Negro representation gathered momentum 
from that time onward. 

The intense partisan attitude of Negro immigrants 
from the South in their new northern environments did 


43 


much to cool the ardor of the North in its advocacy of 
citizenship rights for the Negroes of the South, Not all 
of the republican politicians of the North were angels 
and sometimes the Democrats would nominate far better 
men. But such Negroes as had grown to despise any¬ 
thing wearing the Democratic brand could not be brought 
to see that a Democrat, however noble, should be pre¬ 
ferred to a republican, however ignoble. In this way 
the Negroes were often at cross purposes with the moral 
element that was seeking at times to use the democratic 
machinery to defeat a republican, regarded as unworthy, 
but in full possession of the machinery of the Republican 
party locally. This condition of affairs obtained so of¬ 
ten and in so many different localities that it begot a 
somewhat general opinion that the Negro race as a 
whole was afflicted with a partisanship entirely too in¬ 
tense. This was cold water upon the fire of Northern 
enthusiasm concerning the question of the Negro’s po¬ 
litical rights. 

Thus, after fifty years of freedom, long after the pass¬ 
age of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the 
Federal Constitution, after having had two occupants of 
seats in the United States Senate, and scores of members 
of state legislatures, the political life of the Negro in 
this country is described as “retrograde” by Professor 
Kelley Miller. 

The situation may be summed up thus, as sentiment 
now stands: 

1. It appears certain that for the present the Federal 
government is not going to take steps to enforce the 
Fifteenth Amendment to the constitution. Nor does 
there seem to be the slightest indication that the amend¬ 
ment will ever be repealed, it being allowed to stay in the 
fundamental law of the land as an ideal toward which 
all the states are to work. 

2. The white people of the South are not disposed to 



44 


allow the Negroes to rule in their midst where the lat¬ 
ter are in the majority. 

3. The difficulties that lie in the way of giving the 
Negroes the ballot to an extent that would permit politi¬ 
cal control where they have sufficient numbers have 
caused men to think of other ways of giving to the race 
a sufficient amount of political influence to protect it¬ 
self. There are those that are trying to create a situa¬ 
tion that would give the Negroes the influence that goes 
with being a balance of power. If there are two strong 
political parties striving for mastery, with the outcome 
wholly uncertain, and there are even a few Negro voters 
of an enlightened type willing to go with the side that is 
willing to do the most toward meeting the general sub¬ 
stantial needs of their group;, then these Negro voters 
would be found influencing all sides in favor of the in¬ 
terest of their group. 

How to bring about the necessary division in the white 
race to cause the Negroes to be respected as a possible 
balance of power is the question that has given rise to 
much earnest thought. Since the white people of the 
South object to being controlled by Negroes, they will 
not, it is thought, enter the Republican party so long as 
that party in that section is controlled or largely influ¬ 
enced by Negroes. It is held that under white leader¬ 
ship and control a Republican party can be developed in 
the South to the point where it can menace the control of 
the Democratic party. 

However much one may abhor this condition of af¬ 
fairs, if it exists, it exists, and must be dealt with on 
the basis that it does exist. Granting that the situation 
as it exists has been correctly stated, we are now to con¬ 
sider the steps to be taken to meet it and work around it. 

Heretofore Negro political strategy has been along 
very plain and simple lines. The plan has been for Ne¬ 
gro voters to line up with Northern white voters, and 
thus overwhelm the South. Many times this has op¬ 
erated to put some Northern white friends in office who 


45 


have in turn given offices to some of their prominent 
Negro helpers, but the Negroes as a whole have found 
themselves no nearer their chosen goal. Confronted 
with these facts, will the Negro ever show adaptability 
and seek a new method of approach. 

The marvelous success of the Negro in America has 
been due in large measure to his capacity for adapta¬ 
tion to changed conditions. Finding himself in ihe midst 
of a great civilization the Negro very largely has thrown 
overboard that which clung to him in his uncivilized 
state. Acting on the presumption that the Negro can 
adapt himself to changed conditions, that he can see real 
obstacles in his way, and can strive to work his way 
around them, the suggestions that follow are offered: 

Since the Negroes have been losing their battles they 
might study to great advantage the tactics employed by 
other groups that have been winning theirs. We refer 
to the Anti-Saloon League, the American women and the 
Irish of Ireland. The Anti-Saloon League pursued the 
policy of elevating to commanding position in all par¬ 
ties, such candidates as favored their cause. A politi¬ 
cal party might go on record as being opposed to prohi¬ 
bition, but that did not cause the Anti-Saloon League to 
fail to endorse candidates running for offices as mem¬ 
bers of that party, if they were known to be willing to 
vote for the cause of prohibition. Just as the Anti- 
Saloon League was willing and anxious to go into all 
parties and support men favorable to their cause regard¬ 
less of their party affiliations, the Negroes could like¬ 
wise make it a practice to stand by true and tried friends 
regardless of their party affiliations. The argument is 
sometimes made that the individual known to be per¬ 
sonally all right in every way must not be supported if 
a member of a political party known to be hostile, as he 
must go with his party. But it is not true that a man 
must go with his party. Time and again men have been 
known to break ranks with their party in the interest of 
causes dear to their hearts, and why should the Ne- 


46 


groes hold to it that they are the only ones that cannot 
inspire such a spirit of devotion? 

When the masses of voters have such deep seated aver¬ 
sions that they will not vote for a man, who is thor¬ 
oughly acceptable personally because his name is on the 
ticket of a party that is unacceptable, a way around this 
difficulty, often employed by the American people, is to 
form a new political party even if it is to be but a tem¬ 
porary one. This new party can place the acceptable 
man on its ticket and vote for him as its nominee. 

The Anti-Saloon League was not characterized by a 
spirit of intolerance in that it did not seek to force all 
workers for prohibition to work along its lines. The 
prohibition party working for the same end, pursued a 
course directly opposite to that of the Anti-Saloon 
League, in that it put forward candidates of its own, 
whereas the Anti-Saloon League confined itself to 
choosing between candidates put forward by other po¬ 
litical parties. The Anti-Saloon League did not, how¬ 
ever, regard the prohibitionists as foes, but rather rec¬ 
ognized the fact that they were doing good for the cause 
by helping in another way to keep it before the public. 

When the Negroes were first given the ballot it was 
regarded as a religious duty to suppart a particular 
party. It was regarded as a sin, a traitorous act of the 
very basest sort not to support the party with which 
the race as a whole was allied. As a simple matter of 
fact that policy of exclusive devotion has not won. How¬ 
ever sweet and entrancing, it has failed to preserve the 
Negroes 9 privileges. Was there a wiser way? When 
the race is farther removed from the happenings of re¬ 
cent years, perhaps philosophers will be allowed to point 
out how the losses might have been avoided. 

A democracy is a partnership of thought. It is con¬ 
ducted by the united thought of the people. Since all are 
to be affected by the final decision all have a right to set 
forth their ideas as to how things should be done. When 
some men form ideas as to how things should be done, 


47 


and proceed to try to shut out the expression of different 
ideas by others they tamper with the very foundation of 
democracy, the free exchange of unshackled thought. 

There are several ways in which efforts may be put 
forth to shape thought. The whip of social scorn, the 
boycott and actual violence are resorted to in order that 
ideas that do not suit some may not get a full hearing. 
There are times when very sincere and intelligent men 
are wrong but do not realize it. Paul, regarded by 
many as possessing the most masterful intellect of any 
human being, had to receive instructions from humble 
Ananias, so humble in station that we only hear of him 
in connection with his work in correcting Paul. 

There is no course more fraught with danger to the 
people than the policy of intolerance, a policy of resent¬ 
ing the freest expression of opinion or resenting freedom 
of action within the limits set by law. The Negroes are 
knocking for admittance at the door of the great Ameri¬ 
can democracy. They ask for the right of participation 
in the civic affairs of the government upon terms of 
equality with other citizens. It is cited that they are 
patriotic and brave, and increasing in intelligence, busi¬ 
ness and wealth. A question of the greatest importance 
is as to whether they will practice tolerance, without 
which there will be no true democracy. 

Let us note a happening in Louisville, Ky., bearing on 
this question. In keeping with the almost universal 
practice of Anglo-Saxons, the white people of that city 
arrayed themselves in two camps behind opposing can¬ 
didates and proceeded to wage a spirited campaign. A 
number of colored people who had ideas of their own 
decided to pursue a policy that differed from that be¬ 
ing pursued by a large number of others of their race. 
A spirit of intolerance flared up. Violence was re¬ 
sorted to in order to break up meetings planned by those 
advocating a new policy. The bitterness not only ex¬ 
tended throughout the campaign but lingered afterwards. 
The successful white candidate, after the election, gave 




48 


a dinner in honor of the defeated candidate, and it was 
an affair marked by great cordiality. While the whites 
were feasting in friendship the Negroes were yet very 
bitter toward each other. 

The spirit of intolerance destroyed what was perhaps 
a golden opportunity to put an end to the practice of 
lynching in the United States. The democrats of Ten¬ 
nessee elected a governor who was just and kind to the 
Negro race. He advocated the passage of laws which 
aided greatly in stopping lynching in that state. He 
made an active campaign in the interest of higher edu¬ 
cation for the Negro race. He urged the ratification of 
the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution giving 
to women the right to vote, knowing when he did so that 
it would cause many Negro women to be accorded that 
privilege. There were thoughtful men and women in 
the Negro race who felt that this governor had done 
enough to entitle him to their support and they sought 
to accord it to him. At once the spirit of intolerance 
asserted itself and charges of traitorous conduct were 
hurled at those who felt that the cause of humanity 
would be advanced by putting that type of man forward. 
The treatment accorded to the men and women who felt 
thus operated to prevent a general movement in his be¬ 
half and he went down to defeat. In this election demo¬ 
cratic defeat was quite general, and, if amid the wreck¬ 
age this man had been elected it would have served to 
emphasize the value of doing justice by the Negro race. 

Because Governor Coolidge of Massachusetts grappled 
with the Policemen's Union, the American people who 
favored his stand rallied to his standard, without regard 
to party. In this way the American people were able to 
make it plain that public sentiment was on the side of 
destroying the Policemen's Union. A like opportunity 
was at hand for the Negroes to hit lynching the same 
sort of blow, but the spirit of intolerance headed off the 
movement. 

Of course the Negro's affections have been on the side 


49 


of his political strategy, but it should be remembered 
that many important battles have been lost by the affec¬ 
tions while some of the world’s most stupendous prob¬ 
lems have been solved by simple common sense. In 
civic life the affection should never be allowed to dis¬ 
place common sense. The following advice given by 
George Washington in his farewell address, may well be 
heeded by every Negro in the nation: 

“Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Nothing is 
more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipa¬ 
thies against particular nations, and passionate attach¬ 
ments for others should be excluded, and that in place of 
them just and amicable feelings toward all should be 
cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another 
an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some de¬ 
gree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or its affec¬ 
tion, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from 
its duty and its interest.” 

It is a source of gratification to be able to state that 
this spirit of intolerance is not prevalent everywhere 
in the Negro race in the United States. There are com¬ 
munities in which they have arrived at that stage of de¬ 
velopment where they realize that all are not going to 
think alike and where personal feelings do not enter re¬ 
gardless of the position taken by any one. 

In religious matters Negroes have progressed far 
enough to be able to tolerate the presence of different 
denominations. There is no demand that all belong to 
one denomination, no charge that a person is a traitor 
because he does not hold to a particular faith, no os¬ 
tracism because of one’s donmination. What is needed 
is the same mental attitude toward political matters, the 
same disposition to allow individuals to exercise their 
respective judgments without the feeling that an abomi¬ 
nable sin had been committed. 

During the world-war and for some time thereafter 
the English people dispensed with the use of rival po¬ 
litical parties and blended all parties into one. But 


60 


when the terrors of the war were well out of the way 
they deliberately restored the party system. They no 
longer desired all to be in one camp. They felt that 
they needed a party to administer and another party to 
criticize. 

Instead of looking upon it as being traitorous to have 
more than one political party they regarded it as being 
beneficial. In like manner the Negroes should not deem 
it an abomination for the members of their race to ad¬ 
vance toward their goal in two rival camps, and those 
who decide to stay in the old camp should be fair to those 
who seek another method, should be noble and broad 
enough to refrain from teaching that the workers along 
another line are traitors. Tf that low, despicable method 
is resorted to, the result will be to deny to the race the 
existence of the two wings to its army so very necessary 
to its progress. 

To those who would confine the Negro race to the one 

method of defense we call attention to the mountain 

goat and the eagle. In the day when the goat asked of 

nature a means of defense, it applied for but one gift, 

the ability to climb. Nature answered the request and 

gave to the goat the power to ascend the mountain side 

and walk out upon rocks dangerous for other creatures. 

But the skill of man sometimes takes him to the loftv 

* 

ledge upon which the goat has taken its stand for safety. 
With no other faculty for defense save that of climbing, 
the goat is forced to stand still and drink in the rain 
of bullets until it topples over. 

The eagle asked for more than one method of defense 
and got them. It has feet with which to walk when 
necessary and strong wings with which to fly, when 
flight is needed. It has powerful talons with which it 
can fight, and eyes with which it can look the sun in 
the face without blinking. 

It is up to the Negro race to choose between being 
the goat with the one method of defense which some¬ 
times fails, and the lordly eagle that can hide in the 


51 


underbrush or fly beyond the range of the rifle bullet 
as occasion may demand. 

A feature of the Anti-Saloon League method was its 
willingness to advance step by step. It did not ask 
for all its ultimate aims in every campaign. It confined 
its requests in each campaign to the things which were 
somewhat in reach at that time, at the same time never 
losing sight of the ultimate goal. Whenever a strong 
current of reaction sets in against a policy it is often 
found to be more difficult to overcome the reaction than 
it was to win originally. For this reason the Anti-Saloon 
League struggled for such ground only as it felt able to 
hold if captured. It sought to avoid as far as possible 
the gaining of victories that seemed sure to be followed 
by reaction. 

A writer dealing with political conditions in England 
says that the laborers can take over the British govern¬ 
ment whenever they see fit to do so, in view of the vast 
superiority of their numbers. But he says that they 
do not feel equal to the task of administering the affairs 
of the Empire. They would rather for the labor party 
to continue in the minority in the government than for 
it to take charge of affairs and be guilty of grossly in¬ 
competent management. 

There are some Negro leaders who are working for the 
advancement of the race who do not have as their imme¬ 
diate goal the taking over of political power to the ex¬ 
tent warranted by the superiority of Negroes in certain 
centers. They are not reaching out for all that numbers 
can bring if everything is allowed to hinge on numbers. 
For example, they are not seeking to marshal the Ne¬ 
groes of Mississippi in such a way as to have their su¬ 
periority in numbers determine the governorship of the 
state. The late Booker T. Washington was a leader of 
this type. He desired for the Negro to be a participant 
in the civic life of the nation but he did not seek domi¬ 
nance by means of a superiority of numbers. It was 


52 


liis opinion that the Negroes should not seek to get foot¬ 
holds that they were in no position to retain. Mr. Lloyd 
George, Prime Minister of England, one of the ablest 
and most practical statesmen of all time, warned the 
Russians at the Genoa Conference not to overload it, 
even in the interest of things regarded as absolutely in¬ 
dispensable. He suggested that the first voyage be made 
with such a load as would not sink the ship, leaving other 
things to be carried on future trips. This is exactly the 
policy that the Anti-Saloon League followed, and the 
policy that is commended to the American Negroes. 

Let there be a temporary separation of the idealistic 
aims from the immediate practical program. There can 
be a group devoted to ideals. Yet there is the need of 
practical Negro statesmen, who can do today the things 
that need to be done today, things which if not done to¬ 
day will postpone the realization of the dreams of the 
idealists. 


The Anti-Saloon League did not have a stereotyped 
program for universal application. It made an intimate 
study of local conditions, and had a special program for 
each set of conditions. Anti-Saloon League forces were 
thus divided into units, each group tackling its special 
problems in its own way. The white people of the 
United States have no fixed national policy with regard 
to the Negro race with reference to many things. They 
have allowed conditions prevailing in the different states 
and in different sections of the states to determine their 
course. Thus in facing their problems the Negroes will 
not find conditions uniform, and will find it difficult 
to formulate a uniform program capable of practical 
application everywhere. For this reason Negro leaders 
in the several states and districts should be careful to 
examine proposed programs to decide as to whether 
their localities are ripe for them. The fact that a pro¬ 
gram has proven to be successful in one locality must 
not be taken as conclusive evidence that it is workable 




53 


in another, unless the conditions are relatively the same. 

We now give a bird’s eye view of the Anti-Saloon 
League methods in the words of one of its foremost lead¬ 
ers, Mr. Win. H. Anderson, Superintendent of the Anti- 
Saloon League of New York. He says of the League: 
“It stands for ultimate prohibition, but is practically 
seeking to go no farther, and no faster than a normal 
public sentiment will sustain. The League endeavors to 
secure the best that is possible from existing legislative 
bodies, and to make it safe for their members to repre¬ 
sent the moral sentiment of the community.It is 

onmipartisan as well as interdenominational. It deals with 
candidates as individuals and not with parties as such.” 

In their struggle for freedom the Irish finally resorted 
to abstention as a political policy. They were a mi¬ 
nority in whatever party they affiliated with in the 
British Parliament, and they decided to stay out of Par¬ 
liament. Candidates would be put forward to win seats 
with the understanding that they were not to serve, while 
their being elected would prevent others from occupying 
those places. Ghandi in India advised his followers to 
follow a policy of non-cooperation. Since it is apparent 
that the reputation of being the Negro’s party is fatal to 
any party’s political success in the South, can the Ne¬ 
groes practice abstention so as to free the party with 
which they have been associated from that reputation? 
If they abstain from participation in party councils, and 
sharp contests are allowed to rage between whites, that 
of itself will cause Negro voters to become important 
factors in the situation. Regardless as to how brought 
about, political divisions among the white people at gen¬ 
eral elections will force the giving of due consideration 
to such Negroes as are able to vote. Why not, then, view 
with perfect calmness, if not with approval of the prin¬ 
ciple involved, the efforts of any political group that is 
striving to bring about that political division among the 
white people that must come if the Negro vote is to be 
effective at all, so long as public sentiment in the white 



54 


race will not permit the ascendency of a party known as 
the Negro’s party? 

Careful thought should be given to the manner of the 
winning of the suffrage by the women. They did not 
rest their case on the sole ground of membership in the 
human family. As they made gains they showed in the 
places gained that their influence was especially good. 
They kept before the American people pictures of the 
things for the common good that would come to pass 
when they were equipped with voting power; not things 
especially good for themselves, but things good for the 
people as a whole. Like the Anti-Saloon League the 
women were content to gain ground inch by inch, and 
they looked to the national government last, not first. 
They first sought to build up the right kind of senti¬ 
ment in every locality and every state. They strove to 
win the friendship of all political parties, even those 
that showed the most determined opposition to them. 

A Japanese statesman makes the claim that the Ver¬ 
sailles peace conference could have been influenced to 
declare itself in favor of racial equality. He gave as 
the reason for not pressing the matter, the fact that 
such a declaration was opposed by a powerful minority. 
He said that it was undesirable to gain an end in a man¬ 
ner to leave a powerful minority actively opposed. This 
idea should have weight with the Negroes in shaping 
their political policy. A powerful minority has opposed 
some political aspirations of the race. Has enough study 
been given to the matter of placating this minority? Has 
the Negro objective been the winning or the conquering 
of this minority? Even if this minority has erected hos¬ 
tile barriers, is human ingenuity so barren that it can 
not find any way of turning hostility into friendship 
or tolerance. No more important task confronts Negro 
statesmanship. 

At a time when the Negroes felt secure in the gains 
that had come to them out of the Civil War, they ignored 


55 


the advances of this minority, which in national conven¬ 
tion, adopted a platform calling for the recognition of 
“the equality of all men before the law, and the duty of 
the government in all its dealings with the people to 
mete out equal and exact justice to all, of whatever na¬ 
tionality, race, color or persuasion, religious or politi¬ 
cal. ’ ’ 

If at the time of this declaration the Negroes had had 
statesmen who could have turned it to a good account, 
how different would have been the subsequent history of 
the race! It would not have been necessary for the en¬ 
tire race to have affiliated with this minority, but it 
would have been a good thing to have had enough of the 
spirit of tolerance in the race to have permitted a suf¬ 
ficient number to have affiliated with this powerful mi¬ 
nority for it to feel that the support was worth while 
and capable of being increased by wise handling. But 
this spirit of tolerance was not present. Any one who 
sought to accept the outstretched hand was branded as 
a traitor. The result was, no motive was furnished for 
further advances, and later those made were withdrawn 
in the face of unyielding Negro hostility. The war of 
political extermination set in and has raged on both sides 
ever since. Whatever damage it has done to this pow¬ 
erful minority, it has not prevented the coming of po¬ 
litical disaster to the Negroes. 

So long as the rules of the United States senate remain 
as they are, even a small minority that is grimly de¬ 
termined to block legislation, has it in its power to do so. 
The fate of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill is proof enough 
of that fact. 

To be able to interest the American people, the Ne¬ 
groes need a program other than that of holding office. 
This program should deal with fundamental matters, 
should seek the elevation of the Negro masses and 
should be such as would result in benefitting the whole 
American people. When the people become engrossed 









56 


with the thought of accomplishing some great good they 
will seek the agencies necessary to bring the desired re¬ 
sults. Noble Negro advocates and voters seeking noble 
ends, not only for themselves, but for the nation and the 
world will constitute a powerful argument for the ex¬ 
tension of privileges. Hope of realizing some of the 
noble dreams in the heart of womanhood was a factor 
in winning the suffrage for woman. 

There should be a campaign in the interest of the 
universal practice of thrift on the part of members of 
the Negro race. People who do not save, who are con¬ 
tinuously in hard luck are more susceptible to tempta¬ 
tions of bribery than those who, by a policy of thrift, 
are not only prepared to meet their needs from day to 
day, but are ready for the proverbial rainy day. If 
Negro leaders allow their fellows to be thriftless' they 
will find that men who go around them with large sums 
of money will be able to exercise wide influence. The 
late Booker T. Washington saw this with grea,t clearness 
and therefore sought earnestly to give his race a solid 
economic footing. 

Let the note of warning be sounded here loud and 
clear and long, that the Negro race will ruin its posi¬ 
tion as a balance of power if in the day that it becomes 
such it lacks the power to stem the tide of corruption 
within its ranks. However powerful they may seem 
to be who make a wrongful use of money, however gen¬ 
eral the practice may be, however long may be the period 
of toleration, know that sooner or later the ballot will 
ultimately fall from every hand that does not regard it 
as a sacred trust. 

Perhaps it will serve a good purpose for the American 
Negro to hold in mind the fact that political handicaps 
which have been thrown around him to overcome are 
different in no essential particulars than those that have 
been encountered by other groups. The plebeians of 


< 


57 


Lome had but slight opportunities for education. Mr. 
H. Gr. Wells says of the situation: 44 There was a thin, 
small stream of* very fine learning, and very fine think- 
ing up to the first century of the monarchy. Let Lu¬ 
cretius and Cicero witness, but it did not spread into 
the mass of the people.” With reference to the civic 
privileges of the plebeians lie has this to say: 4 ‘In the 
early days of the Republic only patricians were eligible 
as consuls or senators, and the share of the plebeians 
in the government consisted merely in the right to vote 
for the consuls and other public officials. Even for that 
purpose their votes did not have the same value as those 
of their patrician fellow citizens. The plebeians were 
not only excluded from public office, but from intermar¬ 
riage with the patrician class. The administration was 
evidently primarily a patrician affair.” 

Of the English he says : 4 4 By ingenious devices the par¬ 
liamentary vote was restricted to shrinking number of 
electors, and by insisting upon high property qualifica¬ 
tions for members, the chance of the commons speaking 
in common accents of vulgar needs was still more re¬ 
stricted/’ ’ 

In our day we have seen the various handicaps which 
the women have had to overcome. Let it not be re¬ 
corded that the American Negro is the cry baby of his¬ 
tory, standing before the same sort of obstacles as have 
confronted other large groups of men, but too clumsy 
politically to overcome them. Let there be willingness 
to lay aside every weight whether of affection, or hatred, 
or tradition, or of personal self-interest to meet the de¬ 
mands of the situation. 

Without hate and without heat, with proper restraint 
on the tendency to be enslaved by the affections, with a 
broad spirit of tolerance, with a full supply of common 
sense ready to be applied to each situation as it arises, 
with clear knowledge that getting the little that is within 


58 


reach today by no means closes the gate to a larger fu¬ 
ture, with a spirit free from selfish, sordid motives, and 
in search of the very highest and the very best for the 
country—thus equipped there is yet large hope for the 
future of the Negro in American civic life. 

Finis 





























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